3 new healthy businesses open in Brooklyn

Columbia Street CrossFit opened mid-March in the Columbia Street Waterfront District, a sliver of real estate West of the BQE that’s currently experiencing a population boom. “There are tons of people in this area that live within a few blocks and are very into fitness, but there are not many fitness businesses,” says owner Nate Larrea.

The new box is housed in a space within a historic building that was used to repair ship engines and housed pieces of the Brooklyn Bridge, and Larrea retained the old, industrial feel (think exposed brick) while revamping the space. And he says the fact that the box is much smaller than the average CrossFit space is actually an advantage. “With our small boutique-style box, we are able to concentrate more with our clients individually, since our classes of no more than ten are small vs. other CrossFit classes. This helps us be better and more efficient coaches.”

Body Unique in Park Slope

In Park Slope, fitness studio Body Unique just opened the doors to a brand-new space on Fourth Avenue that houses functional training equipment like TRXs and kettlebells and hosts personal training, semi-private training, and group classes like Extreme Functional Training and Max Cardio Kickboxing. And the studio cements its community vibe by incentivizing members to post meals and workouts on its Facebook page.

Finally, South Park Slope welcomed a juice and smoothie bar, Stoop Juice, which also sells salads and vegan packaged meals. Stoop’s produce is mainly organic or “minimally treated,” but it unfortunately does not cold-press its juices (it uses Nutrifaster centrifugal juicers), so the market’s still open for a more nutritious option. Organic Avenue and Juice Press are probably paying attention. —Lisa Elaine Held